KT Handset Flexes Wireless Internet Muscle
By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
KT, the country's second-largest mobile operator, Monday, announced a new Samsung Electronics handset with seriously jacked wireless Internet capability.
The third-generation (3G) ``smart'' phone, dubbed as Show Omnia, is claimed to be the world's first mobile phone to singlehandedly support Wi-Fi, WCDMA and WiBro (wireless broadband), the local variant of mobile WiMAX.
The handset will make the mobile Internet more affordable for its users, KT said, as they will be able to access free or cheap wireless Internet in Wi-Fi ``hotspots'' and also connect to the 3G or WiBro networks when on the move.
KT is hoping that Show Omnia becomes one half of its smart phone lineup along with the Apple iPhone, which was released Saturday, as it looks to gain on its bitter industry rival, SK Telecom, in the mobile market.
Show Omnia will first be made available to business users through advanced orders, and will be sold to individual customers sometime during mid-December, company officials said.
Show Omnia buyers will be able to access KT's WiBro network for free until the promotional period ends in March. However, the company said it had yet to finalize the price of the device.
KT, which is also the country's largest telephone and Internet provider, opened an online applications store that allows its smart phone users to download software for use on their data-enabled devices.
``KT's new data monthly plans and the content pool expected to be created through the Show App Store will contribute to sparking mobile data usage,'' said Lee Kyung-soo, who heads KT's convergence and WiBro business team.
Through the Show App Store online applications market, KT will be focused on providing a wealth of data-related content, such as programs for providing updated news, weather and stock information, and also applications for Web browsing and e-commerce.
KT is hoping that the Show Omnia phone will become the flagship device for a new type of Internet telephony service it is pushing, dubbed fixed-mobile convergence (FMC).
FMC allows users to switch between fixed-lines and mobile networks using a single handset.
Fixed-mobile telephony customers could use Wi-Fi-enabled mobile phones to access fixed-line networks when making calls at home or in the office, while accessing wireless networks on the move.
This clearly benefits users, as voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) services charge significantly less for voice minutes than conventional wireless services.
KT is expecting significant demand for fixed-mobile telephony from business users, such as start-ups looking to reduce telecommunications expenses.
Show Omnia users who subscribe to KT's monthly data plans will be provided 1.5-gigabytes of usage per month for a 15,000 won fixed-rate.
KT also provides a monthly plan that allows smart phone users to convert to cheaper Internet telephony at home or the office.
KT currently operates most of the country's 13,000 Wi-Fi hotspots and also provides WiBro coverage in Seoul and 19 other cities in the metropolitan area.
The company is expecting to increase its Wi-Fi hotspots by around 50,000 or 60,000 by the end of next year and also expand WiBro coverage.
Smart phones, which support a wealth of Internet and multimedia features such as e-mail, videos, games and music, are critical in business strategies for device makers, as they provide larger margins than conventional handsets.
Mobile telephony operators are hoping that smart phones will also allow them to get better return from their massive 3G investment and other mobile Internet networks by bumping up data revenue.
But so far the devices have been slow to take off here, hampered by their cost, lack of software content and also the expensive data rates set by mobile carriers.